Alexander backhaus



(No Model.)

A. BACKHAUS.

BOTTLE STOPPBR.

No. (so-1,698. PatentedA rf, 1898.

fraz/%277 I UNITED STATES I urreni PATENT BoTTLE sToPPER.

SPECIFICATION forming part of Letters Patent No. 601,698, dated Aprl 5,1898.`

Application filed December 30, 1897. Serial No. 664,(554. (No model.)

To alluhom it may concern:

Be itknown that LALEXANDERBACKHAUS, doctor of philosophy and professorof agriculture, a subject of the Grand Duke of Hesse, residing atKnigsberg, in the Province and Kingdom of Prussia, German Empire, haveinvented a new and useful Bottle-Stopper, of which the following is aspecification.

The present invention relates to the airtight closu re of bottles andother receptacles for containing sterilized materials, particularly tobottles for sterilized milk, by means of an elastic cap slipped over theopening or mouth of the receptacle or bottle previous to the sterilizingoperation and retained in position by means of its inwardly-thickenededge catching under a shoulder arranged 'around said opening, such asthe usual bead of the bottle-neck. With stoppers of this description theopening for allowing the Vapors to escape during the sterilizingoperation is provided for in the cap either in that portion of it whichcloses upon the bead or in the center and then is combined with aValvelike self closing device. Obviously such opening hasthe effect ofweakening the cap and making it accessible to d'amages. On the otherhand, the combination with the said self-closing device complicates themanufacture and renders it costly.

My aim is to do away with the defects referred to by means of thepresent invention, which to this end consists in providing the lowerpart of said shoulder or swelling with a recess or depression whichextends down to the lower edge of that portion and arranging below saidedge and adjoining the same a rib-like projection or ledge at eitherside of the end of said depression, so as to produce a small groove orchannel. When the capis slipped over the bead, it closes upon the latterin an air-tight manner; but as it rests with the respective portion ofits inwardlythickened edge upon the said ledges it allows thechannelformed by the latter, and consequently the depression in thebead, to remain in open communication with the atmosphere. If now thebottle or other receptacle is heated for sterilizing its contents, thevapors evolved, in expanding the cap, lift the latter from the upperportion of the bead or shoulder until the depression is arrived at, whenthey escape through the said channel into the at-- mosphere. Uponcooling the bottle or other receptacle the cap contracts again andhermetically closes upon the bead or shoulder, so that the communicationbetween the interior of the receptacle and the channel is perfectlybroken.

On the annexed sheet of drawings I have illustrated my invention asapplied to a gla ss bottle for sterilized milk.

Figure l is an elevation of the bottle having the cap 'slipped over itsbead, the lower tends of the channel-forming ledges being Visible. Fig.2 is an elevation of the mouth portion of the bottle-neck, with the capremoved, so as to show the depression in the bead and the ledges. Fig. 3is a central Vertical section through the cap removed from the bottle.Figs. 4 and 5 are Vertical central sections according to line 4 5, Fig.1, Fig. 4 showing the cap in its normal stopping position and Fig. 5showing the cap lifted off from the bead, as during the sterilizingprocess.

a is the bead of the bottle-neck. In the 'lower portion of same-isasmall depression a', originating at some distance from its lower edgeand extending down to the latter. At each side of thisdepression theneck is provided with a small downwardly-directed ledge a parting fromthe bead, so that a channel & is produced, forming a downwardprolongation of depression a'.

b is the stopping-cap, having the inwardlythickened edge b'.

When the capb is slipped over the bead a, its edge b' catches under thebead all around,

with the eXception of that portion which comes against the ledges & andconsequently takes its seat upon the latter, leaving the channel a anddepression a' in free communication with the atmosphere, as illustratedby Fig. 4. Now when the filled bottle having the cap slipped over, asshown, is heated vapors are generated, and these cause the cap toeXpand, the latter being retained upon the bottle by the coperation ofitsthickened edge b' with the under side of the bead, acting as anabutnent. This expansion goes on until the portion of the cap which islifted off extends beyond the origin of depression a',when the vaporsescape through the same and the channel a? into the atmosphere, asillustrated by IOO 2 v v 6o1,698

stopping-cap provided with an inwardly-` thickened edge to catch undersaid shoulder,

of adepression formed in said shoulder and extended projections soarranged on the portion of the receptacle adjacent to itsshoulder that achannel is forrned for establishing communication between saiddepression and the atmosphere, substantially as and for the purposestated.

In testimony whereof I have hereunto set my hand in the presence of twosubscribing witnesses.

ALEXANDER BACKHAUS.

witnesses OARL KNoPP WERNER BLDEL.

